The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of twinspur, a perennial that is grown for use in raised beds, borders, hanging baskets, and patio containers. The new cultivar is known botanically as Diascia and will be referred to hereinafter by the cultivar name ‘PENIMP’.
The inventor has been interested and has collected plants of the genus Diascia since the early 1990s. Diascia, which is native to southern Africa, provides showy annual and perennial (in mild climates) plants whose predominant flower color range in nature is in the range of soft to dark pink, also white, lavender-pink, salmon and apricot. Plants of Diascia which are raised from seed are inherently variable in growth habit, ranging from loose, weak plants with brittle stems to plants with significantly shorter internodes resulting in more compact forms and therefore more dense flowering characteristics. Various breeding programs, including the inventor's, have aimed to develop improvements in plant habit and also an extension in the color range into deep pink or red or orange shades and ideally with very similar compact habits for each color.
In 1995, the inventor commenced a deliberate program to develop a range of Diascias whose characteristics would be common throughout, namely an extremely compact plant habit with bright flower colors, and in a range of colors. In 1995 the inventor selected from his collection several plants with the dwarfest habit and hand-pollinated amongst them. The plants involved in the hybridization are unknown although some were numbered selections from prior work.
The seedlings raised during 1995 flowered in the same year and many were retained for further observation in 1996 and 1997. In May 1997, the inventor determined that one plant, PENDAN (unpatented), exhibited exceptional characteristics of dense habit and bright clear saturated pink flowers.
The new Diascia, PENIMP was selected in 2002 as a single plant within a crop of trial plants which had all been grown from in vitro cuttings of PENDAN which had been chemically treated by the inventor. These in vitro cuttings were taken from the inventor's laboratory stock of virus-free plants of PENDAN. PENIMP is a chemically induced mutation of PENDAN and was selected by the inventor for its outstanding floriferousness which causes a plant of PENIMP to be completely covered in flowers with no foliage visible. The inventor considers that this ability to form a dense canopy of flower sets PENIMP apart from other Diascias known to the inventor, including PENDAN which exhibits similar plant habit and identical flower color, but a lesser density of flowers. The inventor has not observed any seed formation on PENIMP.
The parent of ‘PENIMP’ is an individual whole plant of Diascia ‘PENDAN’. ‘PENIMP’ is distinguishable from the parent by sterility, and profuse blooming. The closest comparison plant known to the inventor is Diascia ‘PENDER’, which is also derived from ‘PENDAN’. ‘PENDER’ is the subject of a separate application for grant of a U.S. Plant Patent. ‘PENDER’ and ‘PENIMP’ exhibit similar plant habit characteristics. ‘PENDER’ produces deep salmon-pink flowers whereas ‘PENIMP’ produce mid-pink flowers. ‘PENDER’ is very floriferous whereas ‘PENIMP’ is exceptionally floriferous.
The first asexual propagation of the new Diascia cultivar ‘PENIMP’ was conducted in 2002 by the inventor at his nursery in Newport, Gwent, England. The method of asexual propagation used was vegetative tip cuttings. Since that time the unique and distinguishing characteristics of ‘PENIMP’ have been determined stable, fixed, and reproduce true to type in successive generations of asexual reproduction.